Roger Bannister's Club Is Getting Less Exclusive

Since 2010, 91 American Men Have Run a Sub-4:00 Mile.

Before hanging up his running spikes last year, Patrick Todd did something that earned him life-long membership in an exclusive club: He ran a sub-four-minute mile. "It was one of those wild fantasies," Todd said shortly after the 2011 feat.

It was 60 years ago next week that the Englishman Roger Bannister became the first runner to break the four-minute barrier (under recorded conditions anyway), and the accomplishment remains rarified. No woman has done it: The female mile record, set by Russian Svetlana...